Did it first, did it best:

I guess whoever wrote that list never watched an episode of that Chevy commercial they call Hawaii-5-O. All the good guys drive beautiful new Chevrolet's (except for that cool ass Norton bike that one guy rides) and all the bad guys drive 'off brand' cars that are usually beat up and can easily be overtaken by the faster/better Chevrolet's. It's so obvious that it's comical... and sad really. They even go through the trouble of showing us the bluetooth connections working and how they can voice dial each other.

Just show us the hot chicks in bikinis and beat up the bad guys. NOBODY cares what kind of car you drive. AND NOBODY thinks that you win the fight because your bluetooth worked.

FirstNationalBastard: brigid_fitch: The last episode of House was like that. 2 of the doctors are going to a patient's house to find possible toxins and the camera is focused on different angles of the car, even shooting from the front left bumper into the windshield to see the characters. I don't even remember what the car was (I think a Ford) but I was like WTF--have advertisers gotten that desperate AND blatant? I expect it on a lower-budget show like Burn Notice (Fiona's Hyundai is a constant reminder) but not House.

That's exactly the example I was thinking of. House was a successful show... did they need advertising money that badly to pay off the (presumably) final season salaries?

/30 Rock did an episode about this years ago.

The driver also mentioned how well the car handled. It completely pulled me out of the scene which is a good thing because I wasn't focused, at least temporarily, on how farking annoying Charlene Yi's character is.

This monster brought to you by Gainsburger

My girlfriend has 2 sons that I'm buying for this Christmas. The younger kid (14) is a lot like my son and easier to buy for. He gets an autographed 127 Hours poster. I'm getting my girlfriend an autographed Scott Pilgrim poster. The older kid is just a mystery. 16 years old. Doesn't have the same love of movies, music and books that his brother or mom have. His mother insists that he would be really happy with a gift card from Subway. I feel bad giving a fast food gift card to a teenager. My son (17) says that gift cards for restaurants are a good thing. My son is getting an autographed poster for the movie Thirteen. So, since everyone except for the 16 year old is getting an autographed poster, I printed a picture of Happy Gilmore and autographed it from Happy Gilmore as a better way of presenting a gift card. First inclination was a picture of Jared from the South Park episode, with the caption "Hooray for aides", but if he didn't know the specific episode, it would make for an awkward Christmas get-together.

/this IS a Subway thread, right?

Fano: This monster brought to you by Gainsburger

He really should write a second volume.

Worst product placement ever:


They made an entire episode around it.

GAT_00: brigid_fitch: I expect it on a lower-budget show like Burn Notice

USA is really bad about car endorsements. It's really noticeable on White Collar too.

Psych is really pitching AutoTrader.com hard. Everytime there's a computer screen, it's on that page.

Bones and the Toyota placement is horrible.

Car_Ramrod: GAT_00: brigid_fitch: I expect it on a lower-budget show like Burn Notice

USA is really bad about car endorsements. It's really noticeable on White Collar too.

Psych is really pitching AutoTrader.com hard. Everytime there's a computer screen, it's on that page.

Gus is just making sure that the resale value of the blueberry is trending as predicted. It's called fiscal responsibility, Shawn.

My wife and I are tearing through Bones on Netflix, and there was a really incredible Toyota in-show ad in one show. Went something like:

Bones: Angela, we have to go pick up this dead body.
Angela: OK, let's take my Sienna.
Bones: Wow, there really is a lot of room in here, but why do you need a Sienna?
Angela: Well, I'm an artist, so there's lot of room for my canvases or whatever.
Bones: The ride is smooth too. Anyway, dead bodies.

I think that's the most gratuitous one I've ever seen without it going fully into "wink wink nudge nudge" mode. Which, honestly, I had to rewind it to make sure they weren't breaking the 4th wall. Thought it was particularly amusing that they managed to associate a mini-van with free-thinking, artistic, young/attractive/Asian/female Angela as well, someone at some ad agency got promoted for that one.

Everything old is new again? I Love Lucy was sponsored by Phillip Morris. On top of Lucy and Desi doing the ads, they also smoked Phillip Morris brands of cigarettes during the show. Lucy even smoked while she was pregnant with Desi, Jr.

ComputerBob: I guess whoever wrote that list never watched an episode of that Chevy commercial they call Hawaii-5-O. All the good guys drive beautiful new Chevrolet's (except for that cool ass Norton bike that one guy rides) and all the bad guys drive 'off brand' cars that are usually beat up and can easily be overtaken by the faster/better Chevrolet's.

Came here to say this.
Oh god but the cars are pretty tho!

You also missed the fact the entire show is Brought to You by the Hawaiian tourist board, with every episode's beauty shot opener. Beaches, gorgeous bodies, lush landscapes.

Tom_Slick: Bones and the Toyota placement is horrible.

Daisy (looking around interior of car): Why do you drive a minivan? Do you have kids that we don't know about?
Angela: I'm an artist, Daisy, and the Sienna has plenty of room, plus I stink at parallel parking and that back-up camera thing is like the invention of the century.

buck1138: Car_Ramrod: GAT_00: brigid_fitch: I expect it on a lower-budget show like Burn Notice

USA is really bad about car endorsements. It's really noticeable on White Collar too.

Psych is really pitching AutoTrader.com hard. Everytime there's a computer screen, it's on that page.

Gus is just making sure that the resale value of the blueberry is trending as predicted. It's called fiscal responsibility, Shawn.

Man, you don't need to worry about that. I transferred your 401k into Beanie Babies. You're set for life!

jayhawk88: My wife and I are tearing through Bones on Netflix, and there was a really incredible Toyota in-show ad in one show. Went something like:

Bones: Angela, we have to go pick up this dead body.
Angela: OK, let's take my Sienna.
Bones: Wow, there really is a lot of room in here, but why do you need a Sienna?
Angela: Well, I'm an artist, so there's lot of room for my canvases or whatever.
Bones: The ride is smooth too. Anyway, dead bodies.

I think that's the most gratuitous one I've ever seen without it going fully into "wink wink nudge nudge" mode. Which, honestly, I had to rewind it to make sure they weren't breaking the 4th wall. Thought it was particularly amusing that they managed to associate a mini-van with free-thinking, artistic, young/attractive/Asian/female Angela as well, someone at some ad agency got promoted for that one.

*shakes fist*

Car_Ramrod: GAT_00: brigid_fitch: I expect it on a lower-budget show like Burn Notice

USA is really bad about car endorsements. It's really noticeable on White Collar too.

Psych is really pitching AutoTrader.com hard. Everytime there's a computer screen, it's on that page.

Burn Notice was really bad with the Hyundai ads for a while. "When you're getting away from crazed gunmen, it's good to have 275 horsepower and twin turbos..." "When you're stuck on a stakeout, it's really handy to have six cupholders and an in-car urination container..."

But my favoritely bad product placement was on White Collar. When asked if she could take some criminals back to jail (or something mundane like that) Diana(?) the black woman that used to be on Las Vegas, pointed to her brand new Ford Explorer and replied something like "Well, it has 5,000 pound towing capacity, so I think I can handle it." It was so blatantly bad that I laughed all the way through the Ford commercial break, sponsored by Ford.

Ford.

Car_Ramrod: buck1138: Car_Ramrod: GAT_00: brigid_fitch: I expect it on a lower-budget show like Burn Notice

USA is really bad about car endorsements. It's really noticeable on White Collar too.

Psych is really pitching AutoTrader.com hard. Everytime there's a computer screen, it's on that page.

Gus is just making sure that the resale value of the blueberry is trending as predicted. It's called fiscal responsibility, Shawn.

Man, you don't need to worry about that. I transferred your 401k into Beanie Babies. You're set for life!

That's not funny Shawn.

The Singing Bush: *shakes fist*

I think you were closer on the quote though. Seems like I remember now that she didn't even bother to explain why an artist would need a minivan, it was just a straight "artistic=Sienna" association.

Also: Sheldon saying Purell, in my mind, is no different than someone saying 'Give me a kleenex.' It's a brand name which has become synonymous with the product. And as stated above, it's in his character nature. It doesn't feel unnatural or forced if he talks about it.

ZOOM - the sound of the point being missed by the whole of Fark. Everyone is so caught up in TV and movies having product placement that you didn't even notice that a headline with Subway™ was artfully inserted on the main page. Not only that but we keep talking about Subway™ reinforcing the product. Drew just paid off a chunk of his bar tab thanks to those delicious sandwich artist at Subway™.

I think the worst one I ever saw was on Heros. It was for a car the cheerleaders dad got it for her. And she turned it into a 30 second commercial with gratuitus car shots. Not very subtle

Movies have been doing it for a while too.

There were two blatant product placements in Breaking Bad this year. I didn't mind Jesse playing Rage before it came out, but the whole buying-Walter-Jr.-a-Dodge-Challenger-and-then-having-to-immediately-re turn -it was terrible, out of character, and completely unnecessary

Walter Jr. - "V8, 470 horses, 20-inch rims, satellite radio, bluetooth, 0-60 in 4.7 seconds"

groppet: I think the worst one I ever saw was on Heros. It was for a car the cheerleaders dad got it for her. And she turned it into a 30 second commercial with gratuitus car shots. Not very subtle

Don't forget that it was immediately stolen and never mentioned again

Remember the episode of Hannah Montana when she got a Trojan Vibrations for her birthday? That was pretty blatant.

Fiona's Hyundai doesn't bother me because they don't focus on it, she just happens to drive one. Its not like Michael says, "Fi get in your Hyundai Genesis coupe and use its 2.0 liter turbocharged engine and Garmin Satellite Navigation system to head them off, while I McGuyver something and Sam complains and drinks mojitos."

I've noticed that you know you're about to see a mini ad when they start the camera low on the front tire/bumper. They they explain some piece of tech, like them showing off the self parking feature on Bones, I don't remember what car it was.

The Singing Bush: There were two blatant product placements in Breaking Bad this year. I didn't mind Jesse playing Rage before it came out, but the whole buying-Walter-Jr.-a-Dodge-Challenger-and-then-having-to-immediately-re turn -it was terrible, out of character, and completely unnecessary

Walter Jr. - "V8, 470 howses, 20-inch ri-rims, salite radio, bwootooth, 0-60 in 4.7 secownds"

ftfy

The later seasons of 24 were just awful about this sort of thing. The worst was when the President had to sign a pardon or something and they explained how the new Cisco WebEx remote signature system could get everything straightened out in a hurry.

People actually notice the brand of car people drive in a TV show? Unless they actually mention the name, it never even enters my mind.